


References

by Cantoris



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Fun competition, Geeky, Gen, Movie Reference, No Plot/Plotless, Sci-fi reference, TV reference
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-25
Updated: 2014-07-25
Packaged: 2018-02-10 10:07:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2021025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cantoris/pseuds/Cantoris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because asking Reid about life and death is just asking for it. But that was just the beginning for a game of geek-off between him and Emily. Geeky friendship for the most part, could be Reid/Emily if you choose.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, my name is Cantoris, and I am a geek. I couldn't resist this. Really, I couldn't.

 

* * *

Reid watched his teammates in exasperated affection as Morgan collected another girl's number, Garcia ordered another round of fruity drinks for the table, and Prentiss shot down another drunken frat boy on a dare to hit on her and JJ. Garcia and Morgan were the worst off of their group with Reid being cautious, Prentiss was the DD and JJ also sipping from her drink slowly.

They had insisted on taking him out, in effort to distract him from the significance of the day. No one had actually come out and said, "Let's get Reid drunk so he won't remember that a year ago he was held captive, beaten, drugged, died, and revived."

They had also forgotten that there was no way Reid would ever forget.

Their behavior was easy enough to read throughout the day, which is why Reid found himself agreeing to the outing without even a token effort of refusal. In addition to not ever commenting on the anniversary, no one on the team mentioned that Reid was acting like his old self again. After months of concerning looks and significant glances, and even the carefully worded conversation starters he had always shot down.

"Come on, Reid," Morgan cajoled, only slightly slurring his words. "You've got that thinking face on again. We agreed to have fun tonight."

"I am having fun," Reid protested, taking a sip of whatever Garcia had ordered for him, tasting bourbon and lemonade.

"Well, what were you thinking about, boy genius?"

By then, the three women had caught on to the exchange, watching the byplay unashamedly.

"Nothing in particular," Reid answered, only half-lying.

"No, no, no, no, no," Garcia said. "That was not a nothing face. That was contemplating your place in the universe face. Or, thinking about life and death serious face."

Garcia's words had an instantaneous and sobering effect on the group. The blonde's hand flew to her mouth in unconcealed horror as the others watched Reid, waiting to see what he would do.

"I was thinking about it," Reid admitted casually. "Life and death. Other things. But, I am really having a good time. We haven't done this in a while."

"So, you were thinking about death?" JJ asked in that careful tone of hers.

Reid nodded, not sure what answer would reassure his friends and what would make them feel guilty.

Taking his affirmative answer as a green light, Morgan finally blurted out, "What was death like?"

Reid remembered how he had won his drinks, the night before that fateful case and grinned. "It would be impossible to discuss the subject without a common frame of reference."

It was worth it to see the looks of shock on all of their faces.

"Reid, are you saying that we would all have to die before you would discuss your insights on death?" Prentiss asked incredulously, but Reid saw a shadow of a smile in her eyes.

Reid quirked a grin and raised his drink in a toast. "No offense, but let's hope that never happens."

"You're not getting out of it that easy!" Garcia protested. "Now you tell us, what's the answer to life, death, and the universe?"

"Forty two," Reid answered promptly.

Prentiss and Garcia choked back laughter as Morgan and JJ looked at them all in concern and confusion.

Eventually, Prentiss checked her watch and downed the rest of her soda. "Come on, Boy-Who-Lived, I think we've all had enough for tonight."

Piled into Prentiss' SUV, the agents were dropped off at their individual homes until only Prentiss and Reid remained. Finally pulling up to the sidewalk outside of Reid's apartment building, he bade Prentiss good night and thanked her for driving. Reid was almost at the door when Prentiss called out to him.

Looking back, he saw her flash a hand, palm facing forward, splayed so that the thumb was spread wide and her four fingers were grouped into pairs. She was smiling and Reid regretted that he had treated her so harshly during the previous year.

He smiled back and returned the gesture.

Some nights, it was fun to be a geek.


	2. Chapter 2

Reid hadn't expected any long lasting effects from their night at the bar, celebrating the first year of his second life as he'd come to think of it.

But then he had sent one of his journal articles to Emily to edit. Before, he'd always sent them to Gideon to proof, but that obviously wasn't a choice anymore. And since Hotch was busy enough, trying to deal with his life and spending any spare time he could with Jack as Haley allowed and Reid was still too self-conscious to ask Morgan or Rossi, Emily was now the ideal choice.

It was an average morning of paperwork and consultations when Reid opened his email and saw Emily's response and feedback. There were numerous notes, written in bold among his own plain text without being too overbearing. Her suggestions and concrete criticism was clear and concise, insightful without being condescending. But throughout the article, she had highlighted the same word each time it appeared without fail. There was no reason Reid could see to call attention to that word and Emily offered no explanation.

Then Reid saw the note at the very bottom of the page. _You keep on using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means._

He probably sat there for five minutes in stunned silence.

"Reid, are you okay?"

He jerked into motion again, looking up and seeing Emily's concerned face.

"Uh, sure," he stammered. "I, uh, just got your notes from my article."

The smile on Emily's face could only be described as sardonic. "And?"

"Um, thanks. I'll, uh, make sure to pay close attention to your suggestions."

They shared a conspiratorial grin, ignoring Morgan's demands to be let in on the conversation. Somehow, Reid knew to keep whatever this was between him and Emily. No one else would understand or appreciate what he thought they were doing.

He debated what to put in his response, to thank her again by email and to make his own move in their new game. He considered the line about perfect breasts for all of 1.78 seconds before deciding that it was much to early in the game to pull out that move. And one thing he learned early on at the FBI Academy was not to piss off armed women.

Inspiration struck as Reid ran through the movie in his mind—his own private screening and as clear and precise as the first time he'd seen it as a child—and wrote his carefully worded email and put it on a time delay to reach Emily within the last ten minutes of the work day.

As Reid packed up, he heard the tell tale ding on Emily's computer, informing her of a new email. He slowed his steps as he timed how long it would take Emily to read the brief message. _Thanks again for reading my article. I'll send you a copy of the journal when it comes out. In the mean time, good night, Emily, good work. I'll most likely kill you in the morning._

Emily's laughter filled his ears as he walked toward the elevator, a smile on his face.

* * *

After that, all bets were off as Reid and Emily continuously worked to incorporate any science fiction or fantasy reference they could into everyday conversation. Bonus points were awarded if no one on the team could figure out it _was_ a reference.

Their first exchanged happened as they crouched behind their SUV at a suspect's house. Kevin Arnoldson was on the verge of a psychotic break in the middle of a shooting spree.

"Mr. Arnoldson! We just want to talk about your cause!" Hotch shouted into his megaphone, hidden behind his own SUV with Rossi and JJ.

They all ducked as rapid machine gun fire erupted out of the window. And despite the fear and the situation, Reid's mind supplied him with the perfect tension breaker.

"Isn't that the universal greeting when communications are down?"

Morgan looked at him in shock, as did Emily before she realized exactly what Reid had said. Then she smirked and responded, "I thought it was the universal greeting when you didn't like somebody."

When they continued to grin at each other, Morgan looked back and forth between their faces before muttering, "You two are freaks."

* * *

Reid had three Ph.D's and a handful of BA's. It was common knowledge to just about everybody, but somehow his degrees would come under scrutiny during every one of five away cases they went on, at least.

Their local agent, Kira Ford, raised her eyebrows after the round of introductions, fixing her eyes on Reid. "Holy boy genius, Batman."

There was a choked off laugh from Morgan and an un-lady-like snort from Emily. Reid made a mental note to inform her that geek references made by others didn't count.

It was as they were out for drinks—again—at the end of the case that Reid finally came to terms with the fact that while he resented the title of genius, it was one that would follow him the rest of his life.

"It's not a negative thing, you know."

All the BAU members had held onto most of their sobriety this night, looking to decompress and unwind more than anything else.

Reid looked up and saw Emily taking the seat next to him. "What isn't?" he asked stupidly.

"Being a genius," Emily clarified. "Lord knows we almost rely on it now."

"But it makes me such a, spectacle, sometimes," he protested, trying not to sound petulant and unsure if he was succeeding.

"Reid, look at me."

He'd been staring into his drink up until then. Finally, he looked up and met Emily's clear gaze.

"It is not your fault that you can do what you do and others can't. It is not your fault that most people are too lazy to use what brains they do have."

Reid stared at his co-worker, his friend, and finally nodded his acceptance of her words.

"But," Emily continued. "It's not our fault that you got your hands on a Krell machine as a kid and the rest of us have to pump up our IQ's the hard way."

Reid's laugh was almost a beat too late, but he recognized the reference just in time.

"Well, I can't help you with that. And don't expect a dress with star sapphires either. They take a week to crystallize properly."

"Then you can give me diamonds or emeralds."

* * *

Even over a year later, they were still finding one-liners and dialogue to challenge each other. Sure, sometimes Reid would reference such a small incident that Emily didn't catch it, or Emily would reference something more pop culture in which Reid was clueless, but they still kept playing. It was their stress relief.

And it was one of Emily's weapons to get through to him when he was being particularly dense.

Reid's eyes hadn't moved at all, staring at the open book in front of him. Being able to process the written word as quickly as he could, any time he attempted to read at a "normal" rate, it felt like hearing dialogue in slow motion, distorted and almost incomprehensible. But then, Reid wasn't really reading.

He was at once grateful and anxious with Emily's interruption, explaining why she had chosen to out herself for Cyrus and take that beating, leaving Reid to manipulate the man. Intellectually, Reid knew she was right. But then all he had to do was remember he new bruises that marred her face and body to feel that swell of guilt all over again.

When he nodded that he understood, because he did, really, and Emily reached out to take his hand, he thought he had succeeded in fooling her. He should have known.

She wouldn't let him look away as she kept hold of his hand, pinning him with her clear eyes despite the discolored flesh around the left eye. Finally, she squeezed his hand and let him go.

"Besides," she said, with a trace of amusement which caught his attention again. "No power in the verse can stop me."

She stood up to return to her own seat, a hand on his shoulder as she walked for balance and took another shot.

"Also, I can kill you with my brain."

* * *

His phone was ringing just as Doctor Kimura was leading him out.

"Sorry, I've got to get this," he wheezed, stopping their forward motion.

"Doctor Reid, we really don't have time for this," she protested, attempting to hurry him along.

"Just a second, really," he assured her, more breathy by the second. But he knew that he couldn't _not_ answer Emily. Not today.

"Emily, hi."

_"Reid, I swear to God, I am going to-"_

"Emily, I really have to go right now," he cut her off, ignoring the mental voice of his mother admonishing him to be polite.

_"I know, I know. Just, I have to ask. How are we doing?"_

He was tired, struggling to breathe properly and 78.3 percent positive he was going to die. But Reid still noted and processed the fact that Emily had said, "we" and realized what she was doing.

"Uh, same as always," Reid answered, smiling involuntarily and then coughing violently.

_"That bad, huh?"_

Her voice was shaking, Reid realized. But she was still playing the game. Playing for him to keep some level of normalcy in this messed up situation that he had gotten himself into. Again.

"Yeah."

_"Now get your ass moving."_

* * *

Reid really didn't like his crutches. It wasn't so much the awkwardness as Reid was used to being awkward his whole life. But he hated being left behind while his teammates went chasing unsubs. Working from the station with his geographical profiles and the ability to breeze through any pertinent files before had meant he was playing to his strengths. Now he was essentially doing the same work, but the reason had changed. He was now a liability in the field and couldn't do his whole job.

It sucked.

Especially as Reid felt like the team probably didn't even miss him out there. After all, Morgan was still there to kick in doors and tackle suspects. Rossi and Prentiss were unflappable back-up and even when Hotch had returned to duty he was back to negotiations.

So it wasn't all that surprising that when the team raced out to track a suspect to his house, Reid muttered under his breath, "Have fun storming the castle."

No one should have heard him, let alone known what to say next.

But Emily had paused in her head-long rush and turned her head back to see him, taking in his subdued mood and resentful words.

"Think it'll work?" she asked, her voice full of meaning and implication and ignoring the way the rest of the team had stopped to stare at them.

A ghost of smile forced itself on Reid's face. Of course Emily would hear him and continue the dialogue. He was surprised at himself that it surprised him.

"It'll take a miracle," he answered.

Both of them endured the interrogation on the plane ride home, but neither of them enlightened their team as to what exactly they had said to each other and why it was so important. If Garcia had been there, she would have caught on, but Hotch, Rossi, Morgan, and JJ were uneducated in the art of geek references.

It was theirs, his and Emily's. The attempts to cope with the stress and horror they experienced on a daily basis. The secret smiles they got knowing that someone else _got it_ and could play the game of guess the reference.


End file.
